Long summers are not what a hockey player wants. It means that he fell far short of every player’s goal of winning the Stanley Cup.

But goalie Tuukka Rask, speaking at Shawn Thornton’s charity golf tournament on Monday, is taking the long sabbatical for what it’s worth.

“It’s been a little different,” Rask said of the extended vacation, “but every once in a while I guess it’s good to refocus and reload the batteries. We’re still over a month away (training camp starts Sept. 18) and it feels like we’re ready to go already.”

If Rask looked in the rearview mirror to last season, and the goalie gives the distinct impression that he doesn’t do that too intensely, he’d see a year of tremendous highs and one very low low. On the one hand, his 36-15-6 record, .930 save percentage and 2.04 goals-against average were good enough to win him the first Vezina Trophy of his still young career. On the other, his Eastern Conference favorite Bruins were bounced in the second round by the hated Montreal Canadiens. And while the B’s lack of scoring was arguably the bigger culprit in the series loss, Rask wasn’t his usual terrific self. He allowed 19 goals in seven games and, in five of those games, he had a save percentage of .893 or lower.

But if Rask is stewing over the loss to Montreal, he hides it well.

“You can’t just sit around and think about the past,” Rask said. “You have to focus on what’s ahead of you. But things happen quick and it’s just hockey. I don’t like to think about it too much. You’ve seen so many times that everything just needs to click in order to reach that ultimate goal and last year, it just wasn’t our year. You look at the Kings, who won it, and I think every series went seven games (three out of four series, actually). And you need some luck, too. So many things need to happen right and last year wasn’t our year.”

Rask is also aware that his play is usually indicative of how the men in front are performing. And looking ahead, Rask hopes that the young defensemen who struggled at times in the series — Matt Bartkowski had some rough moments and Kevan Miller had a key giveaway in Game 6 — will be better off after gaining hard-earned stripes.

“Every team has to go through that at some point. Guys get older and teams change so you’re going to have your learning curves and I hope last year was ours,” Rask said. “I think the guys, especially the defense, are a year older and more experienced, so I think when that situation comes up again, guys will be more prepared and not necessarily shake their sticks so much.”

As for the Vezina, given to the league’s best goalie, he shrugs off the personal honor in the same don’t-look-back manner.

“It doesn’t feel different. It’s in the past. I’ll start thinking about those things when I stop playing hockey and I’ll feel good about it,” Rask said. “The main focus has to be the next season. You always have to prove yourself and be good. It doesn’t matter if you win Vezinas or not. You still have to be good.

“I think it’s a never-ending circle. There’s always something. If you play unbelievable, then you have to be as good. If you sucked, then you have to be a lot better. There’s always something. It doesn’t really matter if you win or not, you always have to be better. That’s my mindset.”

There will be a few changes for the upcoming season. With the loss of Thornton and Jarome Iginla, there will be a need for a player or two to step into a leadership role, maybe even the goalie.

“I might have to,” Rask said. “When you’re young, you’re worried about your performance on the ice and you’re so focused on that. But as you get older, you learn to still be focused on the ice but also be more vocal and maybe not stress about it too much. Maybe next year is my year to step up and be more vocal inside the locker room.”

For the third-straight season, Rask will have a new backup, as Niklas Svedberg will step in to replace Chad Johnson, who had replaced Anton Khudobin. He expects Svedberg to fill the role well.

“I can’t see why not,” said the skinny Finn. “His first year in Providence, he had a great year and then last year he had his struggles but he came up and played one game for us against Nashville and I thought he played great. He proved to himself that he can play and it’s just a matter of keeping that consistency.

“He’s a great guy and good goalie. It’s nice to have another European there, although he is Swedish.”